Watch servicing
Watch servicing
Just seeing what people are doing with regards to servicing their watches. Is it back to CW no matter what the age or once warranty is out do you have a preferred person/company that you use.
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MarkingTime
- Senior Guru
- Posts: 427
- Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2017 7:19 pm
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Re: Watch servicing
CW charge £150 for an automatic watch service. That's pretty good for an OEM service. They don't however, offer any case or bracelet reconditioning.
To maintain a new watches warranty, you will need to have the watch serviced at the four year point, so the 60 month part of the warranty is misleading in my opinion.
Now, as for my take on servicing. The movements in the standard automatics are Sellita and you can buy these movements for the price of a service, so I would say run the watch until it shows signs of actually needing a service, probably well in excess of five years and more likely 7-10 depending on use. At that point, get it serviced and/or just replace the movement, as it is not cost effective to service these movements on too regular a basis. Obviously if you have pride in maintaining the same movement and want to keep it going for as long as possible, then service every four to five years as per recommendations. I don't personally see the value in that though.
If you have an expensive movement, then the that changes things a bit, but usually the more expensive a movement is, the more complicated it is likely to be and the more expensive the service costs.
To maintain a new watches warranty, you will need to have the watch serviced at the four year point, so the 60 month part of the warranty is misleading in my opinion.
Now, as for my take on servicing. The movements in the standard automatics are Sellita and you can buy these movements for the price of a service, so I would say run the watch until it shows signs of actually needing a service, probably well in excess of five years and more likely 7-10 depending on use. At that point, get it serviced and/or just replace the movement, as it is not cost effective to service these movements on too regular a basis. Obviously if you have pride in maintaining the same movement and want to keep it going for as long as possible, then service every four to five years as per recommendations. I don't personally see the value in that though.
If you have an expensive movement, then the that changes things a bit, but usually the more expensive a movement is, the more complicated it is likely to be and the more expensive the service costs.
Re: Watch servicing
I have two relatively new mechanicals that will require a service and are not "throwaway" movements so I'll likely service those every 7-8 years or so (not daily wearers) and then I have my newly acquired 7750 VJ chronograph that I don't have plans to service unless it displays weird behavior and if it does, let's hope it's before 48 months as per above. 
Anything cheaper like Seiko or Citizen movements, I have no plans to ever service. Just replace the movement.
Anything cheaper like Seiko or Citizen movements, I have no plans to ever service. Just replace the movement.C60 Trident 7750 - The Beast
C5 Malvern 595 Cool Grey
C5 Malvern 595 Cool Grey
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monkeymax
- Guru
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- Joined: Sat May 01, 2010 10:30 pm
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- Location: Southern Hemisphere
Re: Watch servicing
Depends on the age and what you want doing. I sent my >10 year old Kingfisher in to CW for servicing as I was thinking it'd be easiest if I needed spare parts. Also their pricing is very reasonable in my opinion. But the movement is pretty generic so I wouldn't be too worried about taking it to a good watchmaker to do the servicing. But the watchmaker I've used before would charge more than CW so it was a simple decision!